Advanced Manufacturing

End of the Line

Why The Most Important Part of Any Engineered Product, Isn’t the Product 

Engineered products get better over time. User manuals don’t.

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Engineered products, particularly consumer goods, have improved continuously since the advent of mass production century and a half ago but that process is accelerating as more devices become software defined. Assembling, configuring and preparing software defined devices for the end user usually require some kind of instruction manual, and one way that manufacturers save money is to move those manuals online. The removal of the constraints of ink on paper means that user manuals can be as long as the manufacturer wishes, and the result has been more, instead of less complexity for the product end user. It doesn’t have to be that way. 

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Written by

James Anderton

Jim Anderton is the Director of Content for ENGINEERING.com. Mr. Anderton was formerly editor of Canadian Metalworking Magazine and has contributed to a wide range of print and on-line publications, including Design Engineering, Canadian Plastics, Service Station and Garage Management, Autovision, and the National Post. He also brings prior industry experience in quality and part design for a Tier One automotive supplier.